The sum of equivalent doses to the body's tissues, each multiplied by a tissue weighting factor reflecting its contribution to overall cancer and hereditary risk, for example 0.12 for lung, red bone marrow, colon, stomach and breast and 0.04 for thyroid. Expressed in sieverts, it lets doses from a partial-body or internal exposure be compared with a whole-body exposure and with dose limits. It is a protection quantity for populations, not a precise measure of one person's risk.
Effective dose for the job is 3.1 millisievert including the internal from the iodine intake.
Also heard as
- E
- TEDE
- total effective dose equivalent
Related terms
Equivalent dose
Absorbed dose to an organ multiplied by a weighting factor for the type of radiation, measured in sieverts.
Committed dose
The total dose a person will receive over time from radioactive material taken into the body.
Sievert
The SI unit for equivalent and effective dose, used to express radiation risk to people.
Dose limit
The maximum dose a worker or member of the public may legally receive from regulated sources in a set period.
Stochastic effects
Radiation effects, chiefly cancer, whose probability rises with dose but whose severity does not.